Blue Öyster Cult

From Freepedia

Blue Öyster Cult is a psychedelic/heavy metal band probably best known for two songs: their 1976 single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" from the album Agents of Fortune and their 1981 single "Burnin' For You" from the album Fire of Unknown Origin. Their song "Veteran of the Psychic Wars", with lyrics penned by Michael Moorcock, appeared in the soundtrack of the movie Heavy Metal. Two other well-known songs are "Godzilla" (1977) from Spectres, and "Astronomy" (1973) from Secret Treaties; the latter was covered by Metallica on 1998's Garage Inc..

Image:Blue oyster cult 8x10.jpg

The members of the band began to come together in the mid-1960s, as a college band called "Soft White Underbelly", at Stony Brook University, a branch of the State University of New York on Long Island, New York, at the prompting of critic Sandy Pearlman. Pearlman was very influential for the band, getting them gigs, their first record with Columbia, and using his poetry as the basis of many of their songs, including "Astronomy". The band changed its name to the Stalk-Forrest Group in 1968. One single was released on Elektra Records under this name in 1969, though over one album's worth of songs were recorded. The name again changed to the Blue Oyster Cult in 1970. (The name was suggested by Sandy; the umlaut was added later.) They became a successful heavy metal band during the 1970s. At a time when the genre seemed tired and old-fashioned, Blue Öyster Cult released records that combined powerful music and intelligent and funny lyrics. They are still playing in the 21st century.

The umlaut on the "O" in their name started the trend for using the "heavy metal umlaut" in band names. It was suggested to Pearlman by rock critic Richard Meltzer. [1]

Various other names used by the Blue Öyster Cult are the Cows, The Disciples, Travesty, and Oaxaca.

The "BÖC" have had a minor resurgence recently with two new albums, "Heaven Forbid" and "Curse of the Hidden Mirror", with sixteen songs written by cyberpunk/horror novelist John Shirley.

In the Summer of 2005 Blue Öyster Cult performed at Retrofest in Chilliwack, British Columbia, with Rick Derringer, Edgar Winter, Jefferson Starship, and It's A Beautiful Day.

Contents

Lineup

The current members of the band are:


The original lineup of the band was:

Former Members

The former members of the band are as follows:

Bass

Drums

Keyboards

Vocals

While Eric Bloom has always been the band's official lead singer, other members of the band have contributed lead vocals throughout its history.

The following is a list of songs by Blue Öyster Cult sung by band members other than Eric Bloom:

Donald Roeser

  • "Then Came The Last Days Of May", "Before the Kiss, A Redcap", "Teen Archer", "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Godzilla", "Golden Age of Leather", "I Love The Night", "In Thee", "Mirrors", "The Vigil", "Lonely Teardrops", "Deadline", "Burnin' For You", "Don't Turn Your Back", "Shooting Shark", "Veins", "Dragon Lady", "Dancin' In The Ruins", "Perfect Water", "Spy In The House Of The Night", "Madness To The Method", "Astronomy" (Imaginos version), "Les Invisibles", "Magna Of Illusion", "Harvest Moon", "X-Ray Eyes", "Damaged", "Real World", "Live For Me", "Still Burnin'", "Dance on Stilts", "Pocket", "Here Comes That Feeling", "Stone of Love"

Joe Bouchard

  • "Screams", "Hot Rails To Hell", "Wings Wetted Down", "Morning Final", "Nosferatu", "Moon Crazy", "Fallen Angel", "Vengeance (The Pact)", "Light Years Of Love", "When The War Comes"

Albert Bouchard

  • "Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll", "Dominance And Submission", "The Revenge of Vera Gemini", "Sinful Love", "Debbie Denise", "Death Valley Nights", "Fireworks", "You're Not The One (I Was Looking For)", "Hungry Boys", "Blue Oyster Cult"

Allen Lanier

  • "True Confessions"

Jon Rogers

  • "Imaginos"

Joey Cerisano (guest vocalist)

  • "The Seige and Investiture of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castle at Weisseria"

Gotta have more cowbell...

Blue Öyster Cult was parodied in a 2000 episode of NBC's famed Saturday Night Live. Actor Christopher Walken portrayed 1970s mega-rock producer Bruce Dickinson who oversaw the fictional recording of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." A dissatisfied, somewhat psychotic Dickinson loved the song but insisted he "gotta have more cowbell." As with many SNL skits, lines from the skit became catch phrases, even going so far as to spawn merchandise based on the skit. The band has responded to this by having a roadie play a cowbell on stage during performances.

Bruce Dickinson is not to be confused with the singer of Iron Maiden. In reality, Bruce Dickinson was not a record producer, but a studio engineer who worked with BÖC on other recordings, but had nothing to do with "Reaper".

Also in the skit, Will Ferrell portrays a member of the band named "Gene Frenkle". Gene was the cowbell player, and at the end of the skit it shows a memorium that says "Gene Frenkle, 1950-2000" as if he had died. Eric Bloom later said in an interview that Gene Frenkle was absolutely fictional and that during his whole career he had never met or worked with anyone named Gene Frenkle. Bloom also told that it was he who played the cowbell on that recording.

More recently Will Ferrell hosted SNL, and in the middle of a performance by musical guest Queens of the Stone Age reprised his role as Gene Frenkle and ran onstage hitting a cowbell in time with the song Little Sister.

Discography

(No singles, no samplers, US release dates.)

Notes:

  • Jon Rogers plays on three tracks on "Heaven Forbid."
  • Bobby Rondinelli plays on one track on "Heaven Forbid."
  • Albert Bouchard plays on two tracks on "Extraterrestrial Live."
  • Please click the "Imaginos" link for an explanation on the lineup.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Blue_%C3%96yster_Cult.html"


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